Man avoids jail after paying father restitution

Updated 9:47 pm, Friday, April 12, 2013

STAMFORD -- A New Haven man narrowly avoided a prison sentence and criminal conviction after he paid nearly $28,000 in restitution to his 91-year-old father in Darien.

At state Superior Court in Stamford Thursday, Dennis Usky, 57, of New Haven, was granted accelerated rehabilitation, a one-year probationary program that will expunge a first-degree larceny charge against him if he successfully completes it and does not break any laws in the meantime.

Judge Richard Comerford granted the program for first-time offenders after Usky paid his father $27,688 to cover nearly 20 of his father's checks that Usky used for his own expenses, court records show.

But Comerford offered the married New Haven father of two a warning. "If you ripped off your father, God help you," he said.

According to his five-page arrest warrant affidavit, Darien police in September received a complaint from Maple Street resident Joseph Usky that his son had stolen roughly $30,000 from him. Usky told police he had given his son power of attorney and his checkbook.

He said he discovered that between February and July 2002, his son withdrew cash for his own personal use, made debit payments for purchases unrelated to his father and wrote checks to his wife to cover insurance and medical bills for his own animals. One check Usky made out to himself was worth $15,000, the affidavit said.

Dennis Usky was arrested by Darien police on Dec. 7. In a statement from his caregiver, Joseph Usky asked police to arrest his son.